Instant Wellbeing Upgrade with 3 Tools You Already Own

1st February 2018

As the end of January nears, I’m so pleased to see fewer and fewer emails about how my BEST YEAR YET awaits. If anything, the emails reminded me to unsubscribe from a lot of lists I forgot about. But for every January challenge I didn’t sign up for, there’s another one in February! But spaces are limited and there’s just one tiny joining fee. Sorry guys – don’t hold your breath waiting for me to sign up.

The thing that bothers me most about the many campaigns we see in the first month of any given year is this. They come from a standpoint that they know something you don’t. That they can empower you by sharing what they know. They assume you don’t have the tools within you already. More so – they tell you that you don’t.

But the amazing thing is that we have SO MUCH within us already. We possess the tools and have the knowledge already. I want to share in this post 3 things you can do right now – for free – that will upgrade your sense of wellbeing, instantly.

BREATHE

The master tool for wellbeing, and the only tool you’ll ever need if you master it. And quite frankly, if you don’t have this tool, then you’re probably dead.

Practice it now. It doesn’t have to be complicated. A natural breath awareness exercise for even a few moments can reduce stress and bring a renewed sense of wellness to body and mind. Simply close down your eyes and feel the breath move in and out of your body. Go through about 8 rounds of breath or set a timer for a few minutes.

Practice it daily. Like brushing your teeth. Wake up, set a timer for 5 minutes and bring awareness to your natural breath. Count your breaths and begin lengthening your inhalation but keep your exhalation the same. You’ll find your mind clears the fog a lot more quickly. You’ve just set yourself for the day.

SLEEP

A completely underrated tool to boost our wellbeing naturally. When we sleep, our body assimilates all the information and experiences from the day. Everything that we have learned is stored. Our muscles repair. We literally heal ourselves. And we have the power to make the choices that will improve the quality of our sleep.

Smartphones have an eyebrow-raising impact on our sleep quality. Research and surveys are often concluding that the hours we spend on our smart devices has a direct impact on our sleep patterns. Particularly using our phones in bed before sleep.

Emphasising the point that we have the power to make the choices, we can choose how much time we spend on our devices. Additionally, we can limit our pre-bedtime device use and switch our phones to flight mode during sleeping hours.

And of course, we can make further choices to improve our quality of sleep. Such as what time we go to bed, limiting TV before bedtime, practising relaxation, and consider the way we sleep to find the right conditions for ourselves (we are all different).

UNFOLLOW

We are undeniably living in a time where our lives are directly and indirectly influenced by social media and the internet. And this has been my biggest takeaway recently when I reviewed my ‘online’ activity. Ditch anyone on your social media feed and unsubscribe from anything that doesn’t dramatically BOOST your feelings of wellbeing.

How often do we scroll, lusting, daydreaming and ‘liking’ content online? How often have you had ‘time to kill’ and check your feed only to get sucked into a comparison mindset over something that didn’t matter to you 5 minutes ago?

An example of this very situation happened to me recently. I was following some women who would seem quite relatable and inspired lifestyle choices that I thought I wanted in my life. They were female entrepreneurs, leaders in their communities. Over time, I found myself less inspired. Over time, they changed from women ‘like me’ to women with an agenda. I found myself being marketed to as if I was not living the life I should be and that I needed to do an EXPENSIVE online programme to feel better about myself. Needless to say, I followed this advice and unfollowed them.